Far from the madding crowd: Cui Rui’s Chinese bus-sharing app offers Beijing commuters stress-free travel

Technology start-up Jiewo, which means “pick me up” in Putonghua, launched a car-sharing mobile phone app in 2014 to tap into the demand of Beijing rush-hour commuters for an alternative to private cars and crowded public transport.

Co-founder CUI RUI tells KWONG MAN-KI why it has now turned to a commuter-bus sharing platform serving 20,000 passengers every day.

Why did you switch to commuter-bus services last year?

We want to promote the idea of green travel because of the worsening problems of air pollution and traffic congestion. Yes, it is easier to find a small number of people to share cars, but such a service can offer only a few seats per trip and limited relief to the overall congestion. So we believe bus-sharing services is a better solution as it can carry dozens of commuters.

More than 30 million people in Beijing, many of whom are white-collar workers, rely on the subway system for daily commuting. If 10 per cent of them were to consider other transport, it would produce a huge number of potential passengers for us – and that means business opportunities.

Public buses are too crowded and slow, and travelling in private cars with car-hailing apps is not affordable and commuters want an alternative. So we decided to offer point-to-point bus routes and shuttle bus services at some subway stations.